Should we all be riding without stirrups to get a better seat?

Riding without stirrups is brilliant for developing a deep seat with good balance and learning to follow the horses movement BUT riding without stirrups is not so great for a lot of horses! If the horse is hollow, above the bit or tight through his back riding without stirrups is not going to be great for him. You see a lot of this happening in novice lessons where the rider is asked to ride for periods of time without stirrups and the horse tries to protect his back by bracing. The horse gets tighter through his back and the rider ends up bouncing more and so the cycle perpetuates. For a novice rider, riding without stirrups in walk can be really helpful but to work in faster paces the horse needs to be relaxed and swinging through his back looking for the contact. Lots of sitting trot, on a hollow horse may improve the riders seat but it certainly won’t improve the horses back.

If your horse isn’t ready to help you practice riding without stirrups yet, try these three exercises to deepen your seat and improve your balance instead.